Operation: Shotgun
by Yellow 13
Summary: this story revolves around Cipher and PostAC5. another part in my series.
1. Prolouge

Prologue

Fifteen years ago, there was a war. Well, war's broken out here plenty of times before. They've tried to invade the southern valleys through the northern mountains time and time again.

Luck was never on their side though, and their victories didn't last long. Facing economic panic, losing territory and watching their nation dwindle, they build up their industrial strength to unprecedented heights, and used it to wage one final battle against the world. That was fifteen years ago.

They fought ferociously, but where utterly defeated. They then committed the unthinkable: they used nuclear weapons on their own soil.

Seeing this tragedy unfold before their eyes, the victorious countries vowed to throw down their weapons. The world was once again at peace, and thanks to them, it seemed it would last forever.

Belka, suffering from economic strife, permitted its eastern territory to separate, and the Republic of Ustio was born. But Belka's economic troubles did not subside. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the situation, the world's superpower, Osea, continued to flourish.

In the economic panic, and hyperinflation, an extreme right-wing party took power within Belka, aiming to restore strength and stability to the nation.

And on March 25th, 1995, with the discovery of natural resources, Belka began to invade its neighbours. It was the beginning of The Belkan War.

Unprepared, each country feel quickly before the might of the legendary Belkan Air Force, and in just a few days, they occupied all territory except for the mountain ranges. In response, the occupied Ustio Government placed all their hopes on a joint operation between Osea, Yuktobania, and foreign mercenaries.

This of course can be found in any history book; however, there is one mercenary that stood out from the rest. Not because of excessive mention, but because all the accounts of him where followed by the codeword 'Demon'. But most of the information is incomplete.

A reporter named Brett Thompson, from the Osean Broadcasting Corporation, decided to pursue the history of the Belkan War through this Mercenary. He made a documentary out of it, even getting former Belkan Aces to talk about their encounters with him.

This is not the story of that mercenary's time in the Belkan War, but this IS the story of what happened to him 15 years later.


	2. Cipher and Pixy

Operation: Shotgun

Malcolm Nurburg (aka: Cipher)

Allenfort Airbase

Newfield Island, Usea

0700 hours local

War… AGAIN. It seemed like someone was almost always at war with somebody. Most recently, it was Osea and Yuktobanian fighting together in a joint attack on South Belka. I'd been there, and I'd seen some pretty nasty shit. The seven nuclear explosions fifteen years ago is just one of many memories I have of the Belkan War.

That's right. I was there when the seven nuclear bombs hit on June 6th, 1995. I can still remember the sudden flash then the shockwave that hit all of us a few seconds afterwards.

Anyways, I was driving over to Allenfort in a BMW Z8, a small luxury from my days as Cipher: Demon Lord of the Round Table. When I arrived, I showed my ID, and was let in. I wanted to see what exactly was going on. I got out of my car and was about to go inside for a tour of the base when someone said: "Yo buddy, you still alive?"

I spun, surprised, and saw Larry Foulke. Although, when I first met him, he went by "Solo Wing Pixy" or just "Pixy" for short.

"Pixy, you son of a bitch!" I yelled, drawing stares and muttered comments.


	3. Meeting aces

Chapter two

"Well buddy, it's nice to see you remember me," he said, calmly as if the last time we met we weren't trying to kill each other.

"What the fuck are you doing here!?" I said, lowering my voice so as not to attract any more stares.

"What am I doing here? What are YOU doing here?" he asked.

"I'm-" I stopped, not willing to let his friendliness wear off on me again. "Why am I even talking to you? You tried to kill me! You tried to kill everyone on the PLANET!"

"Ouch. Okay, I deserved that." _A hell of a lot more then that! _I thought. "But, I was… okay, confused. I didn't know who I was fighting anymore, and… well, I thought I'd be easier to fight everyone at the same time and not get confused so easily."

"So… what do you want? You want me to forgive you or something?"

"No, not really. I know you won't anyways. I'm here because apparently those Soviet Union guys, they're in a war right now, and they're practically crying for experienced pilots. I thought I'd go sign myself up. So, Buddy, why are you here?"

I shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on here. Did you hear about the new war? Osea against Yuktobania? I thought they where allies!"

He nodded. "Yeah, I did hear about that. But that's over now, right? It was Belka that was behind the whole thing."

I had heard something like that on the news, but I dismissed it. I knew from experience that in times of war, the media often told the public one thing, even through the complete opposite was happening.

One of the many base personnel came towards us, and asked: "do you two need some help?"

Pixy nodded, and said: "Where's the recruitment tent for the Soviet Union?"

The solider pointed to the north, and said: "Big tent with a hammer and Sickle in yellow on it with a red background. You can't miss it." He then looked at me and said: "have we met before? You look familiar."

I always tried to keep a low profile; in fact, I had even gone so far as to have slight plastic surgery and a name change. I shook my head and said: "No, I'm sorry but I've never seen you before in my life. I guess I just have one of those faces."

The solider went away and Pixy and I started walking to the Soviet recruitment tent. Along the way, he asked: "What was that about?"

"I try to keep a low profile so as not to get any celebrity status. I need my privacy, you know. I don't want to make a big deal out of what I did in the Belkan War."

"You 'don't want to make a 'big deal' out of it? You single-handedly ended the Belkan War! You stopped A World With No Boundaries, AND you shot me down!"

I shook my head, and corrected him. "I didn't end the Belkan War single-handedly. You where there! PJ, God rest his soul, was there too! The only thing I did by myself was shoot you down, you know this!"

We began a friendly argument as to what had more effect on the outcome of the Belkan War, just me flying around, or was it the fact that my Wingmen helped me out in almost every mission I flew. I kept insisting that it was the help I got from him, and PJ, while he was fixed in his opinion that it was just me and nobody else that made me the Demon Lord.

We continued this, and despite my best efforts, I found myself liking him again as a friend. Once we got to the recruitment tent, we both signed up, and we were told that we would be starting our training at 0500 Hours tomorrow.

I checked the names of all the people on that list. A few where familiar, but I couldn't place them.

The list went like this:

Detlef Fleisher

Neil Sokoloski

Bernard Schmidt

Guy Glaspie

Rainer Altman

Jamie Lomonaco

Kurt Rafael

Dominic Zubov

Marni Laperuta

Erich Hillenbrand

Joshua Bristow

Benito Laufenberg

Reed Hassey

I tried to remember where I had heard those names before, but I was at a loss. I can't remember names too well. Faces, no problem, I can do that easily. Names… not so much. Allenfort was being used mostly now as a base to train pilots along with Rigely Airbase on the mainland. Once I went into the Mess Hall, I saw a lot of newbie pilots in there, as well as a few that looked like they had some experience with them.

I got something to eat on my tray and sat down next to a group of experienced pilots. They all wore the same drab olive colour flight suits, and they seemed to be talking about the air battles they had.

The one that was telling his story had an Eastern Belkan accent (British), and I thought he sounded familiar.

"So there I was," he said. "We all looked at the two lone mercenaries, and thought the same thing: 'this is really happenin'.' I squinted to confirm the situation; I checked the air currents, his plane, his manoeuvres, and his remainin' ammo. I figured I could do it, and the four of us went to engage these guys.

They each shot off a pair of XLAAs, and we started manoeuvrin'. Those missiles where shaken off, but all of a sudden, bang! One of my squadron mates was down. Bang! Another one down. We got serious after that, but they still outmanoeuvred us beyond my expectation. So, how 'bout you? How'd you get shot down by the Demon Lord, Bristow?"

The new guy, a person that looked like he had been in jail for some time, began his story on how he was shot down. Then another and another until almost everyone at the table were finished.

Almost. There was still Pixy and me when everyone else had had their turn. Pixy began his story of how I shot him down over Avalon Dam after he had launched the V2 Nuclear Missile. But I admired the fact that he refused to point out that the 'Demon Lord' was right next to them.

When it came to my turn, I said: "well, I don't think I could possibly top THAT," referring to Pixy's recounting.

"Aww, come on!" Erich Hillenbrand said. "We want to hear how you got shot down by him! You look old enough to be around when he was, and you also look like a fighter pilot."

"Well, you see the thing about that…" I said, but was interrupted by Pixy.

"Look guys, Malcolm's not up to talking right now, so maybe we should just drop it."

I mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Pixy had just saved my hide from busting my cover, which I had worked so hard to get, wide open.

To my surprise, they did, and went to talk about the other air battles they had. The ones not against me, but against other pilots. Once everyone was finished eating and left, I said to Pixy: "Thanks for saving my bacon back there. I really appreacte it if no one knows who I am."

He waved his hand, dismissing it, and said: "No problem, but if I were you, I'd start thinking of something to tell them, and fast. And also to explain how good you are tomorrow."

I made a sour face, and said: "I'll try to go easy on everybody."

"Not just easy, fly like a completely different person. Even after this long, they're bound to recognize your manoeuvres." He paused, and said: "Call my crazy, but that Eastern Belkan guy, I think that was Grun 1. Remember? From the Round Table?"

I thought about that, then: "hey, yeah, you're right! Damn, I never expected that."

Okay, I know what you're thinking: if I was smart enough to recognize that that group was talking about me, but I couldn't remember who they where, there are a few reasons for that.

First, I shot down A LOT of people in the Belkan War. AT LEAST somewhere in the thousands, I can't be expected to remember every single pilot. And second, we went by callsigns up there. I never heard the Pilot's actual names.

So really, all I had to go on was a voice slightly distorted by a radio. That's not much to go on when you're meeting a former enemy ace on the ground.

I went to my new quarters, and saw that everything was still the same: same almost Spartan room with only a desk, lamp and a bed, same pristine smell that seemed to be perpetually stuck there, same flat grey paint scheme for the walls and room, same everything.

I tossed my overnight bag I had gotten from my car at the foot of the bed, and went to the desk and opened the drawers to see if the prior occupant of this room had left anything behind. Either I was in luck, or the Soviets had guessed that I'd look there because there was a book on ACM (Air Combat Manoeuvring) there.

Well, a little refresher couldn't hurt. I thought, and I stated to read it. I was mentally retracing the Split-S Manoeuvre when someone knocked on the door. I got up and answered it. Waiting for me was a woman with jet black hair, and, like everyone else, a drab olive colour flight suit. She looked Erusian. (Greek)

"Hello, I just wanted to see how you're doing." She was definitely Erusian.

I shrugged, and said: "I'm fine, but this is weird."

"What is?"

"This whole setup the Soviets got here. I'm seeing people from all over the world here in one room and everyone's getting along."

She laughed, and said: "where have you been for the past year? The war's over! Everybody's getting along just fine now." She paused, and then said: "you know, you look familiar, have we met before?"

I shook my head, and said: "oh no, I've just got one of those faces." Damn, did EVERYBODY know who I was?

The woman suddenly looked embarrassed, and said: "I'm sorry, where are my manners?" she held her hand out and said: "I'm Sarah Nakano, but you can just call me 'Tomboy'. Everybody else does."

I shook it and said: "Malcolm Nurburg, you can call me Cypher, with a 'y'."

I'm not good at making up callsigns, so I just added a little change to my usual one, and nobody knew the difference. Besides, some people used the slightly modified callsigns of other war heroes like Ofnir, Grabacr, Mobius 1, and Blaze. I suppose they want to make themselves feel like an ace, but I don't know.

"Pleased to meet you, Cypher, and don't worry, tomorrow's going to be a big day for you. You better rest up, and prepare yourself." Tomboy said, before leaving.

_Prepare myself for WHAT? _I asked myself, not knowing what exactly was going on here. I shook my head, went back inside my quarters, and started to read the ACM book again.


	4. Mission Briefing

Chapter Three

The day came and went as I read the ACM book, remembering every trick in it. I went to sleep and woke up to the sound of an air raid siren! I shot out of bed, put on a flight suit, and jumped into the nearest plane in the closest hanger. I was in luck because this plane was the ADFX-01 Morgan. Pixy managed to get the ADFX-02.

When we all got airborne, I heard: "All Aircraft, this is AWACS Sky Eye. This has been a test of your Emergency Response Time, as well as your reaction time. Good work everyone, you may Return To Base. (RTB) once you're there, go to the Main Briefing Room; an officer will brief you on the current situation."

I reluctantly landed back at the base, and followed the small crowd to the briefing room where a solider wearing the uniform of a Soviet Union officer stood. We all took a seat, and once we settled down, he began the briefing.

"Good morning, Comrades," he began. "I am Alexei Stribitzky of the Soviet Union Military.

"We are currently at war with a species of aliens who mean to take control of our physical bodies. These aliens are called Yeerks. They enter through the ear canal and wrap themselves around the brain." He took out a small remote and pressed a button on it. The projector above our heads went 'cha-clunk' and a picture of what I guess a 'Yeerk' was displayed.

"As you can see," the officer said, continuing the briefing, "In this state, they have no natural weapons, and are extremely easy to defeat. It is only when this parasite wraps itself around the brain that it becomes a problem." He pressed the remote again, and I saw what looked slightly like a cross between a dinosaur, a hawk and a razor blade.

"This is what is known as a Hork-Bajir. These are normally herbivores; however, since the Yeerks enslaved their species, they have become the cannon fodder of the Yeerk army."

He continued on with the briefing for some time, and a few newbie pilots actually puked after a while. I must admit, I felt a little queasy too, but I knew that I wouldn't be facing those ground forces. I'd be facing off against things called Bug Fighters, Blade Ships, and Pool Ships.

From what the Soviets could tell us, almost all of the hardware the Yeerks had didn't have very good manoeuvrability. However, attacking things like the Pool Ship would be like me trying to shoot down the XB-0 all over again. I shivered at the memory. That thing was HUGE!

Anyway, soon after the briefing, we took off to go into a mock air battle. It vaguely disturbed me that we'd be using live ammunition instead of simply playing laser tag, but orders are orders. We all took off in our preferred planes, and went to engage each other. Pixy again, went up in the ADFX-02, so I was more or less stuck with the ADFX-01. Now, that's not really a bad thing, but there is one downside to this plane: I can't carry all three special weapons at the same time. I can just carry one at a time, so for this 'mission' I had the base personnel equip my plane with the default laser cannon.

Once everyone was airborne, we started to fight. I launched a few sidewinder missiles at the first plane I came across, which happened to be the Yellow Squadron's leader, and I closed with him. The enemy plane was aware that I had let lose a few missiles his way, so he now started manoeuvring to evade them.

"Yellow 13 to all Yellows;" he said. "Engage as a formation, no single-ship attacks."

Pixy moved to my left and launched several Sidewinders of his own, targeting the number two slot in the five plane formation. The pilot did a Cobra Manoeuvre and easily lost the two missiles.

"Bird Dog!" a woman called. "I got one on my six! Shake him off!"

"Hold on, Tomboy, I'm coming!"

Now, other planes dove in on the two of us, and I was now no longer 'Cypher the newbie', I was once again 'Cipher: Demon Lord of The Round Table'. I pulled into a sharp vertical climb, then killed my speed three seconds later and went straight down, activating the laser cannon, and slicing apart two enemy planes in less then a second. I adjusted my plane slightly up to hit the next enemy plane, and managed to clip a section of his tail assembly, causing him to spin uncontrollably in an expanding globe of destruction.

My laser wore out after that, and I went to engage the Yellows who where now ganging up on Solo Wing. I could tell that he had already lost his laser, so he was now using his Multi-Purpose Burst Missiles/Sidewinder Missiles/Gun combination. Once I got a Yellow within firing range, I let off a burst of the gun.

The enemy plane started pulling a hard turn to the right, but I anticipated that, and sent my shells slashing across the plane's fuselage. Shrapnel was sent flying as the enemy plane started to fall apart in mid-flight, and I saw an ejection seat fire just before fuel from a wing tank gushed into the air, then the fuel ignited in a savage fireball.

There was no time to go around it, so I went right through it. Shrapnel pinged and rattled on my plane's fuselage, and soon I was in open sky once more. There was an explosion below me, as the enemy plane's ammunition cooked off in a more savage secondary explosion that sent even more shrapnel of all sizes flying off in all directions.

I went onto the next enemy plane, and fired two missiles at it. Those missiles went straight sown the front air intake of the enemy plane, and it exploded seconds later with tremendous force.

All the other planes just circled in awe and terror as they saw my little transformation as one by one, I shot them all down. It seemed that the Soviets had installed some kind of failsafe into the ejection seat so that in the microseconds before the plane got fatally wounded, the ejection seat would fire and prevent any casualties from a friendly fire accident.

Once I landed, I got out, and went to the Mess Hall, now feeling like an idiot for letting my skill reveal itself after all these years. As I entered, everyone I had shot down looked up, and stared at me.

I had another Belkan War flashback...

_I entered the Mess Hall of Valais Air Base in Ustio after a particularly successful engagement in the B7R Airspace. Everyone looked up, and congratulated the seemingly unbeatable team of myself and Solo Wing Pixy. _

_We had both shot down the extremely deadly combination of Schwarze, Schnee, and Silber Squadron. A few of our allies had been shot down in the process like First Lieutenant Jack Bartlett, but he had been picked up a few minutes later after I reported it in. he also came back with another pilot. Bartlett clamed he was his squadron's leader. Everyone had seemed to buy that, but I had this nagging suspicion that that wasn't the case._

The flashback ended, and I grabbed a tray, filled it up, and then took it back to a table away from everyone else. As I was eating, another woman, who was also a pilot judging by her flight suit, came by me and sat down. Following her where a few of her friends, a pilot with an almost indestructible look to him, a black pilot that looked to be around thirty, and a very young pilot who couldn't have been more then twenty-one.

They all sat down, and I recognized the shoulder patch insignia as that of the Razgriz Squadron. Blaze, Edge, Swordsman, and Archer. All of them where lethal pilots, almost on par with me and Pixy, or Mobius Squadron.

The woman, Edge, had an engagement ring on her finger, and I could see an identical ring on Blazes'.

Wanting to break the silence, I said: "So, you probably want to know where I learned to fly like that, right?"

Grimm started to nod, but I saw Swordsman elbow him in the gut. I sighed as I saw that, and said: "I suppose this'll get out sooner or later, so I'm just going to say it: I'm Cipher, the Demon Lord of the Round Table."

Grimm's jaw dropped, and I continued: "I know, I know, you're shocked about this, but if you want to know why I was hidden all these years… well the truth is, I didn't want to become a celebrity of some kind. I can't stand all that attention. So I simply decided to disappear. I changed my name, had some plastic surgery, and now I'm just a well-off civilian."

"So why'd you resurface after all this time? I mean, you've laid low for fifteen years, and now you pop back up wanting to go back to work and not a mercenary this time," Nagase asked.

"Well, a part of me always wanted to go back up in the sky, and take my word for it, being a mercenary isn't all it's cracked up to be. As for why now? Well, I'm not to sure. Maybe because it's a completely new war unlike anything we've ever seen before, maybe because it's my time, maybe because sooner or later, I'm gonna become broke, and I'll have to go into work again, so I might as well do something I'm good at. Like I said; to be honest, I really don't know."

The four 'Demons of Razgriz' nodded in comprehension.

Ha. The 'Demons of Razgriz', I wonder where they got that nickname from. Probably me, just modifying it slightly to encompass the four members. Er, well, maybe just the 'Demons' part, but the 'Razgriz'? I didn't know where that came from.

See, in my Universe, 'Razgriz' is a storybook character that is essentially, a Demon and a Hero. It's a bit difficult to explain, but that's the jist of it.

Anyways, once we were finished eating, we went back to our quarters, although before we did, I said to the Razgriz: "You know, you can tell everyone about me. I'd prefer it if you didn't, but you can if you want."

After that, I went back into my quarters, and started to fill out some of the paperwork that was accumulating on my desk. I supposed it was one of the many things I'd have to get used to if I was actually joining the military as a real pilot, not a mercenary…


	5. Wrapping things up

Chapter four

I went to Blaze's quarters to find out exactly how he dealt with the media. I knocked on his door, and there was a moment's shuffling, and some muted voices. When Blaze came out, Nagase politely excused herself from the room all the while looking embarrassed, and I gave Blaze a look.

"What?" he said defensively. "I love her, and I plan to get married to her someday."

I shook my head and said: "Okay… anyways, I was wondering if I could ask your advice on something."

He shrugged. "Ask away."

"How do you and your squadron deal with the media? I mean there's bound to be hundreds of reporters swarming around you, how do you deal with them?"

He smiled and said: "you know, the media isn't really swarming around us. And for the stray reporters that do, we just tell them where they can shove it, and if they STILL refuse to leave, we call President Harling and he black-lists them from ever reporting anything ever again."

I raised an eyebrow. "You can do that?"

"Yeah, the President's a very good friend of mine, as is Nikanor. We saved their lives during the Circum-Pacific war, and they've been in debt to us ever since. One of the ways they pay us back is they try to make us seem dead."

I have to say I was genuinely impressed. I had never made any friends during the Belkan War with the exception of Pixy and PJ. Both mercenaries, and both unable to influence any politics. But Blaze had managed to get the Prime Minister and President of the world's two Superpowers to make everyone think that the Four Wings of Sand Island, or the Demons of Razgriz, or whatever you happened to call them were dead. It just really impressed me.

"What about Mobius 1 and 13? How do they deal with it?"

"From what I understand, they just use the magic phrase when dealing with them: 'No comment'. Then, they usually just leave you alone."

I nodded, and said: "Thanks see you later, Blaze." And I left.

My work wasn't all done yet though. I still needed to let the Base Commander know about me, and he would let the base know. I knew I couldn't hide it any longer, so I went to his office.

When I got to his door, an aide stopped me, and said: "I'm sorry, but the Commander is VERY busy, and he cannot see anyone right now."

I gave him a cold, hard look that visible chilled him. It was the same look I gave new base personnel that didn't get out of my way fast enough.

I opened the door, and was immediately amazed by the decorations of this one office. The floor had wall-to-wall carpeting, and truly stunning pictures of various battle scenes drawn and painted from various scenes of this guy's home universe. Some with tanks, some with aircraft, and some from navel battles. The room also had various models of ships, tanks, and aircraft in it. The Commander was reading something, plans of some sort.

As I looked at them, I knew what I was seeing: plans for the 'Excalibur' Class Anti-Aircraft/Anti-missile Defence/Offence Chemical Laser System. Nothing like that super weapon had ever been seen for fifteen years, and now, the Soviets had their hands on the plans. Were they trying to 'reforge' Excalibur?

The Commander looked up, and said: "Da? What is it?"

I snapped to attention, and said: "Sir, I feel it's best to tell you this now. Did you happen to see my performance in Yesterdays dogfight?"

He nodded. "Da, da, I did. Very impressive. Were did you learn how to fly like that? I'm sure our pilots could learn a thing or two from you."

"Sir, I learned how to fly during the Belkan War. People in this universe know me as 'Cipher, Demon Lord of the Round Table.'"

His eyes widened slightly and he said: "indeed? I was wondering when you'd come to work for us. We've been looking through your records, and it says that the two of you were inseparable."

That was completely true. Even on the ground, Pixy and I were like brothers. You simply couldn't pull us apart for more then a few hours.

"Anyways Sir, I feel it's best for everyone in this base to know about me. If you could tell them, but keep the media away from me, I'd be very grateful."

He nodded. "Of course, Comrade. I'll tell everyone as soon as I'm finished with what I am doing."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and a scarred man who looked to be around 45 came in. he was carrying a manila folder stamped 'Top Secret" on the top and bottom. The Commander took it, opened it, and read the contents. As he was reading, I turned my gaze to the scarred man, and wondered how he got like that. The only thing I could think of was that he had been in a fire a while back, and the doctors hadn't been confident they could save his skin. This guy was also completely bald, which, combined with the massive scarring, reinforced my opinion that this man had been in a fire a while back.

The Commander looked up from the folder and said: "Thank you, Captain. This is exactly what I wanted. As promised, you and Ofnir will receive amnesty and asylum with the Soviet Union."

Ofnir? Well, there was only one person I knew who was Ofnir's friend: Grabacr. I watched as he left the room. The Commander closed the folder, and said: "well, Cipher, if that will be all, I have a meeting I cannot miss." He nodded. "Good day."

And he left shortly afterwards. Not wanting to damage his office, or his reputation I also left, only to be greeted by a glare from the Aide.

Supreme Commander Boris Romanov

Allenfort Airbase

General's Conference Room

1633 Hours Local

I arrived at the meeting three minutes late. No matter, they would not start the meeting without me. Once I got in, I saw all the Generals chatting with one another until I sat down. Immediately, the chatter died away.

"Good afternoon everyone." I began. "I have just received the plans for the Arkbird, V2, the SOLG, Scinfaxi-Class Carriers/Submarines, and the XB-0. As you all know; these were superweapons designed in the various wars in this universe. What I want out of this meeting today are volunteers to help build these superweapons.

"We have already had General Tao work on Megalith, and General Alexander has worked on the 'Stonehenge' Class AAA guns. Generals, how are the results so far?"

A woman with short cut blond hair and wearing a USA General's Uniform began talking. She was General Alexis Alexander. The USA's head of Superweapons development.

"So far Commander I've been able to produce three out of the six guns you wanted. I'm having my construction team's work double-time to get the last three operational. The ones in the USA have been completed on-time on schedule."

"Good. General Tao?"

A thin Chinese man with the uniform of the People's Liberation Army now began talking. His hair was thin, and mostly masked by the uniform's hat. He insisted that his hair loss was due to old age, but nobody bought that. He was only 44 years old, so everyone had the suspicion that it was hair loss due to radiation. Even though no one ever said that to his face. If they did, the person who said that would be on the receiving end of China's most brutal General: 'Anvil' Shin Fai. General Tao was known as 'the nuke' and ANY insult about nuclear power or its shielding was a personal insult to him. And Chinese people NEVER let an insult go away lightly.

"The Megalith launch facility is nearly completed, Commander. However, its armament is another matter entirely. The missiles are scheduled to arrive at noon tomorrow. As requested, these are biological, conventional, High-Explosive and nuclear. As requested, the facility is fortified by a mountainside as well as protected from aircraft attacks by one of General Towns' new toys."

I looked at the aging man in another USA Army General. This man was head of the USA's Top Secret Laser weaponry program, which only now had started to get off the ground.

"Yes sir," he began. "I've been experimenting with the AEGIS Cruiser; taking its radar tracking capability with my lasers quick power and aim. I think I've come up with something." He pulled out a computer USB memory stick and plugged it into CABAL, our most powerful supercomputer.

"Downloading secure video file now," he said in his computerised voice. Yes, HE. Not IT. Cabal is so intelligent he can easily be classified as a 'he'. "Please stand by."

I looked at the giant television monitor that was affectionately called 'The Big Board', and saw a sleek-looking ship remaining stationary in a bay. The camera panned to the left, and I saw a device that was normally used for launching dummy targets for target practice.

"Commencing AEGIS Beta Class cruiser testing now," General Towns' voice announced. A target was fired, although I realised that was not a dummy. That was a real missile! The missile locked onto the ship, but suddenly, it was blocked out by a beam of light that temporally absorbed the missile. Then, there was an explosion.

The video ended, and General Towns started talking again.

"I call that the AEGIS Beta, or more simply, Laser AEGIS Cruiser. It was a little project of mine that I never quite finished in the war against the GLA. With your permission, Commander, I'd like the opportunity to continue work on this ship."

I nodded, hoping to get a viable Anti-aircraft platform out of it soon enough. I turned my attention now to a fellow fighter pilot: Air Force General Malcolm Granger. We were best friends, and he had each been in more air battles then we cared to count.

"General, will we be able to have these new aircraft up and flying soon?"

He nodded. "Making that deal with Grunder Industries was a really smart thing to do, Commander. Now, they're freely giving us their aircraft, and I gotta say, I've never seen airplanes of this quality in my life. Whatever these guys did to 'em worked real good."

"Good," I said. Eventually, we agreed upon who would build what. General Tao would work on the SOLG and the V2 missile while General Juhziz would take over for him, General Granger would make the Arkbird and XB-0, General Towns would make the Excalibur laser, and General Vladimir would build the Scinfaxi class submarines.

We then agreed on the next universe we would visit. This Universe's official designation was 37432884. Although, the people down at the Universe Designation Department decided to call it the 'Otherworld' Universe. Nobody knows why, I guess they thought it sounded nice.

We had had our eye on this universe for some time, but now it seems the Yeerks were finally acting. That was a chilling thought, if the Yeerks got to there before we did, they would have potentially a considerable advantage in manpower. We had to stop them NOW.

A few short weeks later, we managed to appear in their Russia, and get Premier Romanov, my father, elected quickly with the help of the people's will for economic reform, and Yuri's subliminal messaging.

A few weeks after that, and we were ready to attack the one and only Yeerk Pool in this Universe. I called in the Yellow Squadron to do this. in retrospect, that was not a good decision, but no one could have predicted what would happen later.

Anyways, I was briefing Yellow Squadron on their latest mission. Two of the five pilots where rookies, two where experienced pilots, and one of them was my wingman, Yellow 13.

"Now, it seems that the yeerks have once again tried to move to another universe. We believe that they're trying to build a Yeerk pool in New York State. Now, your ordnance for this mission is as follows, two Mark 84 General-purpose bombs, and four AIM-9 Sidewinder Missiles."

There was, as far as I could see, nothing of value or interest here, but the yeerks where trying to capture it. That made it our responsibility to prevent the capture. So far, there was only one Yeerk Pool with only one entrance and exit, an "Abandoned" building. I was sending Yellow Squadron out on a precision bomb run, fly in, destroy the target, and fly out the same way you came in.

"I wish you the best of luck in battle." I concluded.


End file.
